*A* grandad, not *the* grandad, presumably.
Grandad rammed car at taxi driver who refused to give him a lift in Leicesterhttps://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news ... er-2129500He said he'd 'only had a couple of beers'A grandfather “used his car as a weapon” and rammed it at a taxi driver who had refused him a lift earlier in the evening.
Aziz Dagli was out drinking in Leicester city centre on Saturday, September 23, and got in a taxi after ordering a ride home at the taxi office nearby.
But, according to the driver, 53-year-old Dagli was drunk and arguing with him before the taxi had even began the journey so the driver asked him to get out.
When Dagli refused, the driver pulled him out of the back seat and the pair wrestled on the ground for a short while before Dagli left and dialled 999 to report that he had been assaulted by the taxi driver.
Unimpressed by the response he got from the police, he returned to his home in Kingsway, Braunstone Town, and drove his own car back to the city centre.
The taxi driver, a man in his 30s, had just been into the taxi office to file his own report about the earlier fight.
He was returning to his vehicle when Dagli launched his car at him, striking the vehicle side-on and pinning the driver against the car, crushing his leg.
Dagli then reversed his car and tried to ram the driver again but he managed to dodge out of the way and Dagli fled.
While the driver had no idea who it had been behind the wheel, the police suspected Dagli because of his earlier 999 call.
While he initially denied the charge of causing grievous bodily harm, Dagli changed his plea to guilty on the day he was due to stand trial.
How has the taxi driver been affected?David Lee, prosecuting, said the driver had suffered a displaced fracture in his leg and a severe laceration. He said the driver was still unable to walk or drive for long periods.
He said: “The vehicle had been driven with some force. It went back and then forward again but the taxi driver was able to avoid being struck again by the defendant.
“The police, having had a report of a much more serious incident, put together this incident with Mr Dagli’s report and were able to trace him.
“There was no other indication of who had committed this offence.”
What was said in mitigation?Jonathan Dunne, representing Dagli, said his client was angry the police had not responded to his earlier call.
He said: “He felt, ‘If you answered my call I wouldn’t have taken the law into my own hands’.
“His greatest regret is that he went back that night.”
He said Dagli was a Turkish national who came to England to study in 1989, later got married and had always been in work.
He said Dagli had told him he had only had “a couple of beers” on the night of the attack but was upset because his father had died recently.
Mr Dunne said: “He’s a man without convictions for violence. He doesn’t pose a risk to the public.”
What did the judge say?At Leicester Crown Court on Friday Dagli was jailed for four-and-a-half years.
Judge Nicholas Dean said it saddened him to have to jail Dagli.
He said: “It’s a sadness to me to see a respectable, middle-aged man come before the court for such a serious offence.
“What you did was use a car as a weapon and it could have resulted in death.
“You must have completely lost your head that night.”
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